The Old Axolotl: Hardware Dreams by Jacek Dukaj translated from the Polish by Stanley Bill Allegro March 16, 2015 160 pages This isn’t your grandfather’s reading experience, and that’s the point. Jacek Dukaj, Poland’s most famous living sci-fi writer, has created a multi-dimensional text that explores what it means to be a human versus a … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: The Old Axolotl: Hardware Dreams
One Hundred Shadows by Hwang Jungeun translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon Tilted Axis Press October 3, 2016 152 pages In her introduction to One Hundred Shadows, Man Booker International Prize winner Han Kang sums up the surreal yet recognizable atmosphere of the novel when she calls it a well-controlled mix of fantasy and … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: One Hundred Shadows
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka translated from the Japanese by Daniel Huddleston Haikasoru March 8, 2016 304 pages Legend of the Galactic Heroes truly lives up to its name: it takes the reader on a journey across several centuries and many light-years to tell a story that confirms what … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn
Dendera by Yuya Sato translated from the Japanese by Edwin Hawkes & Nathan A. Collins Haikasoru February 17, 2015 400 pages Yuya Sato is precisely why you should read speculative fiction in translation. After all, if you were just roaming around a Barnes & Noble, or even many indie bookstores, or looking at the New … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Dendera
BloodBusters by Francesco Verso translated from the Italian by Sally McCorry Luna Press Publishing April 10, 2020 220 pages Winner of the 2015 Urania Award,* Francesco Verso’s BloodBusters is a heady mix of economic and political intrigue and fast-paced adventure, all circulating (pun intended!) around the unique premise that people pay their taxes in blood … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: BloodBusters
Dissipatio H.G. by Guido Morselli originally published in Italian in 1977 translated from the Italian by Frederika Randall NYRB Classics December 1, 2020 144 pages Dissipatio Humanis Generis: the disappearance of the human race. This is Guido Morselli’s theme, and it’s explored with all of the seriousness and depth one would expect from a writer … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Dissipatio H.G.
The Mission by Péter Zsoldos translated from the Hungarian by András Szabados Profiford Bt. May 6, 2018 (originally published in Hungarian in 1971) 190 pages Péter Zsoldos (1930-1997) was a Hungarian speculative fiction author in the US-UK tradition, focusing in his work on space exploration, mind-transference, and robots. Of his most well-known work, Feladat (The Mission, … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: The Mission
Sunburnt Faces by Shimon Adaf translated from Hebrew by Margalit Rodgers and Anthony Berris PS Publishing November 1, 2013 470 pages As many reviews of this book will tell you, Sunburnt Faces is not a fantasy so much as it is a novel about fantasy. The concept of “Wonderland,” children’s books about fairies and magical … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Sunburnt Faces
Dolly City by Orly Castel-Bloom translated by Dalya Bilu Dalkey Archive Press (Hebrew Literature Series) October 5, 2010 167 pages I could tell you that you must read this book because it is one of the landmarks of Israeli literature and a merciless critique of motherhood, nationhood, and postmodern life. I could also say that … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Dolly City
Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada translated by Susan Bernofsky New Directions November 8, 2016 288 pages Inaugural Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women In Translation, 2017 In Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Tawada doesn’t just inhabit the mind of a polar bear to explore such issues as Cold War politics, ancestry, … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Memoirs of a Polar Bear
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 